Is Brexit Keeping You Awake at Night? Brexit Induced Anxiety Support Thread

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

I'm lying awake unable to get to sleep, despite being shattered, because I'm worrying about what's going to happen this month. I know I'm not the only one who often wakes in the night and can't get back to sleep for thinking about things. It's the uncertainty I can't cope with very well. The not knowing. I can't plan very well for that apart from building my brexit stash. My worries are food and medicine availability and price rises.

So I thought it would be good to have a thread where people can come and share their worries about brexit or just chat to other insomniacs and have some company. Maybe share relaxation techniques or thought diversion techniques that might help in the here and now and things that might help longer term.

Here's a cup of hot chocolate/warm milk/dairy free option to help you sleep

I think the Westminsterenders thread feeds anxiety. I've followed it from the beginning and it's a brilliant source of information but I'm a lot happier when I take a break from it!

No-one I know in RL talks about Brexit. Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances - no one gives it a second thought.

@BercowsFlyingFlamingo , I'm sorry you had a bad night. In a strange way @MessageWithdrawnatPostersReque is right. Obviously we all care very deeply about all this and, I don't know about you, but I have limited opportunity to discuss in real life. Dh and I do talk about it but I can see he gets stressed so I limit it.
It really is a case of Keep Calm and Carry On. Allow yourself to enjoy some shit on TV. Or whatever works for you to make you laugh. Tiring yourself out not with stress and worry but physical exercise and fresh air helps. Do you have the opportunity in the day to go for a walk a few times a week? When my dd was young she liked to collect "interesting leaves" . I kept a bag in my pocket to shove them in. Is that an option with your child(ren)?
Also, growing stuff , even unsuccessfully, is a good grounding exercise. Seeing a shoot come through (even if that's all you get) is very satisfying. Pea shoots are brilliant as well as the perpetual spinach I'm always going on about. Or micro greens- basically things like broccoli which never get more than a bit of a shoot which are then harvested for a salad or used as hidden veg. Window ledge stuff like that. I think they still sell some seeds in supermarkets. You don't need stuff marketed as micro greens. Just try some supermarket bought seeds.

Bercows hugs

Sometimes if I wake in the wee small hours I may start getting anxious, and it's always worse at night. I find it's best to try to keep busy with practical things, of course some things are out of our control, such as medication. I may stream a movie or catch up on TV series. I tell myself 'worry never changes anything'.

bellini makes some good suggestions. Micro greens are my thing as well, I should get those started very soon as my lettuce crop has now finished. I bought a variety of seeds to try. Today I'll be making a mess in my kitchen, making raspberry coulis and raspberry vodka.

Thank you everyone. I finally fell asleep around 1.30 I think so am not impressed. I don't have any trouble falling asleep normally but do wake in the night and start worrying about anything and everything. I know others are often awake in the night too hence the thread.
bellinisurge I walk around 5 miles a day as I don't drive. I live on the edge of the Pennines and the school run has some beautiful views across to Kinder Scout and that always makes me feel very grateful for where I live and also removes me far from the world of politics. It's like two separate worlds.
I chat to my mum daily about brexit and keep her up to date as she relies on the bbc news. She gets a more rounded view thanks to me passing on the westminstenders threads.,The rest of the family voted leave as did her friends so their view is everything will be fiiiinne and they don't understand why she's concerned. We both have a good stash and are prepared as far as possible I think but it's the not knowing.
I also find that at this time of year SAD creeps in. My vit D levels crash so I'll be getting the high strength ones out of the cupboard. It's a funny time of year. I love autumn but can feel very melancholy.

Oh and the garden is in my to do list as is messy now the summer plants have died off. The dc want to grow some veg so I'll see what we can do in our containers as no flower beds.

I wake in the night regularly anyway. I think it's post menopause stuff rather than Brexit although I do worry about the latter obviously.

Recently I have had some Brexit conversations with neighbours who I've not discussed it with previously.

In one case they are ardent remainers, actively writing to MP etc. I was surprised at how much the DH was yes very angry with the ERG lot but on the other hand was very reassuring about what a no deal would be like.

He said that whatever the Tory Brexit is it wouldn't be as bad as you might fear - in the same way that revoking wouldn't be as bad as the Brexit brigade think? He was quite persuasive.

He's a retired Uni academic so knows about human geography and anthropology (?) type stuff. His basic reasoning was saying that humans are inherently adaptable. He felt we would find a way of selling wheat to Spain or whatever the product is. Whilst he was incandescent with rage at what this is doing to the higher education sector and research and do many other sectors he was surprisingly upbeat at our ability to survive it all. I'm not sure I agree with him but he was reassuring.

On the other hand I had a renewed peak into my friend's Mum's FB. I limited her posts from my feed thing as I couldn't bear her jingoistic -empire -racist-we -won the -war banging of the Leave drum. Interestingly, she was moaning in huge capitals about going to the pharmacy repeatedly and her husband's meds being unavailable- absolutely no linkage between this and her leave stance whatsoever.

Re SAD - try a SAD lamp. I found it very effective, I felt far more alert after using it. They're quite compact too, don't take much space, I've one from SAD Solutions. It emits blue light, you have it on your desk so the light reaches your eyes, but you don't look directly at it.

www.amazon.co.uk/SAD-Solutions-BLUElight-Light-White/dp/B00IEXSMY6/ref=asc_df_B00IEXSMY6/?hvlocphy&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=309964069570&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o3&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-631889240613&hvrand=15851734405269807583

There are cheaper ones than mine, that's just the one I bought (quite a few years ago now).

I know how you feel OP. How about a laugh, this always make me laugh and it's nothing to do with Brexit.

KennDodd brilliant!

I've ordered myself a Girly Swot tote bag. Shopping is always good for cheering me up. My EU flag is flying from the window. Waitrose and John Lewis are possible today and my noticed cat is curled up next to me.

That's a brilliant bag, I want one!

Are you marching on Saturday?

manwhohasitall.teemill.com/product/girly-swot-spider-brooch-bag/

Here's the link.

I'll be marching in spirit.

I find classics (including children’s) on audiobook are good relaxation for wakeful nights. Also playing a range of solitaire games (Pretty Good Solitaire) helps shift my brain into a different gear.

I think the rhetoric on both sides of the argument is appalling. No wonder people are losing sleep and becoming anxious.

I avoid this by disconnecting from either side, but seeing both sides of the argument cowards way out!

I know just what you mean OP - I spend a lot of time lying awake feeling worried and also angry. This may sound strange, but I find it helps to consider that it was ever thus. People in many places and situations throughout history have had their livelihoods, safety and peace threatened by the stupid and unpleasant actions of others, often in much worse circumstances than this (Syria springs to mind). There is nothing unusual about what we're experiencing here, in fact in the great scheme of things it's pretty minor. You just have to cope as best you can, and try to be philosophical about it.

I also find it helps to keep busy, especially with anything that's doing good in however small a way (e.g. volunteering). And remember you are not alone.

Oh and I have also found reading Agatha Christie novels is quite helpful.

I agree with duck
When my mum was growing up it was the Cuban missile crisis and everyone thinking they were going to be annihilated by nuclear bombs. I grew up thinking g the world would be wiped out by AIDS and now DD is stressing over climate change and us all being swept away by rising tides.

We've all survived somehow (still waiting on climate change but we will muddle through) so we will all survive Brexit no matter what happens .

I had a few sleepless nights around the time of the referendum, but I've learnt to just ignore it all now. I don't even watch the news much anymore. I read these thread now and again, but stop when it starts to worry me. I am about as prepared as I can be and I'm certainly not planning to go away on holiday this year, but apart from that I just accept what will be will be.

I’ve been feeling very anxious about this lately, so today I have purposely avoided looking at any news, and my anxiety has dropped back down to normal levels ie. none. I hate being uninformed but when the goal posts keep moving everyday, I don’t feel bad for having a few days off this whole ridiculous farce.

I buy tins as a coping mechanism. Every time it starts to get too much, I add another multipack of chopped tomatoes or tuna to my online grocery basket. I find it helps a bit. DH finds it hilarious, but he isn’t responsible for feeding everyone!

I've just downloaded the BBC Sounds App and have started listening to Desert Island Discs. I've never listened to it before. Find it very relaxing and enjoy choosing whose interview to listen to next, maybe you could put some headphones on and listen to something like that to help calm you if you wake up.

I know the feeling OP. I have a baby so I tend to wake up at night anyway, but Brexit is definitely making it worse . It will affect my life in real, negative ways, just like it will lots of people, and I don't understand how or why so many people are okay with that. It's a nightmare.

im not anxious just angry at what brexiteers have done and are doing to this country and incredulous at those who support them (and then try to minimise their part in it.)

i didnt know so many people were so stupid -thats been a huge and sad revelation to me.

I slept like the dead last night thankfully. I switched off from here around 9.30pm and made sure I read a book. I did wake in the night and was tempted to check what was happening with regards to the deadline but resisted. Our borrowed cat curled up near my head and purred for a while and that was calming. I added to my stash yesterday and that always calms me too.

Sending calm to all today.